For those of you who use Hairbows for muting...

I learned of this from seeing Victor Wooten use them. And since I've been really getting into tapping I started using them to. But I haven't been able to find one that's just the right size and type to work really well. Especially for my 5-string bass. They're either really thin, so they don't do as much muting as I'd like - or they're too big and don't put any pressure on the strings at all.

So is there a specific brand that you guys use, or a special place where you buy them? Any help would be appreciated here.

I had the same problem, and I'll tell you: it wasn't much fun running around all over the place to lady's stores to 'shop' for these.

Now I can assume you're talking about these 'scrunchy'-related elastic doughnuts, right?

I finally found something that works well, and look like the one I saw on a Wooten video. I think I finally got them at 'Clair's', which is a store for like teenaged girls. ..But these are just right on my five string. They're not the regular 'scrunched-up' looking 'scrunchies' (I learned from my shopping that they're most often spelled in scandinavian-style, like 'Scünchi'); they look more like rope or terricloth or something. The band itself is about half an inch or so in diameter on the neck (maybe three-quarters inch not-stretched), and the whole hoop has something like a two-inch outside diameter not stretched. They came five at a time, in assorted colors, for six dollars or something like that.

I keep two of these up on the headstock, and always use at least one right up by the nut, unless I need to play a cear, ringing open string for a part. Even with my constant, careful thumb-trailing and left hand muting, it really cleans things up!

..but even TWO of these don't work as well as my faithful-old piece of VELVET folded in half - with fuzzy-side out - and slipped under the strings. When folded, it just about fits between the nut and first fret (I can still play the first fret just fine, but an open string is pretty much just a thud). You can move it up a few frets to get fairly complete muting - I mean you could do a Pete Townsend windmill on the thing and it wouldn't make a note. I use the velvet mute for stuff like Digging in the Dirt by P. Gebriel (I still hack the song pretty bad, but half my friends think I'm a bass genious when our band does it! Maybe it's my 'bass face').

Awesome, that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. I've tried slipping stuff underneath the strings like that too but it's much less practical for me because I play of lot of stuff where I'd have to take it out and back in pretty often (lots of open string stuff). It's easier to just roll the little scrunchie thing over the nut and back. I think there's a Clair's in my local mall actually, I'll go check it out